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Community 

and the 

Post-war 
Problems 



By WILLIAM V. COWAN 

CommiMioner of Community Councils of the State 

Council of Defense, and State Director of 

Four Minute Men of California 



The. State Council of Defense 

Sacramento, California 
DECEMBER 15, 1918 



Oalifornia State Printing GflQco 

Sacramento 

1918 



fi. of D. 

JAN 10 1919 






PREFACE. 

Ileiv are oiven only a few random thoughts 
that may tend to emphasize the need of com- 
munity organization. If they bring forth dis- 
cussion and other thoughts, then this pamphlet 
has served its purpose. 

The conununity idea can not he fully described 
and wholly developed without circumscribing it. 
Perhaps it is best merely to ])laze a few trees, 
only pointing out the general direction, and then 
let the local leaders pioneer their way. 

The conununity is a partnership, and the suc- 
cess of that partnership depends largely upon 
the spirit of harmony, of give and take. Every 
community leader and subleader should read, and 
read ravenously every available book on social 
work and communal development, remembering 
always, liowever, to fit the academical and theo- 
retical ti> the changing practical conditions. 



(3) 



We are on the threshold of a new era of 
National history. There have been four years 
of destruction and famine, of bloodshed and 
human hate. There shall now be many times 
four years of rehabilitation and construction, of 
social regeneration, of world-wide comradeship 
and, if possible, of continued human happiness. 

We have seen tremendous things brought about 
by organized destruction. We hope now to see 
what wonderful and glorious results may be ac- 
complished by organized construction. 

—Heretofore we organized the better to kill 
men. Henceforth we should organize the better 
to build men. 

Winning a war requires national organization : 
but building men requires community organiza- 
tion. We have been amazed in America at what 
we have accomplished through organized volun- 
tary service during the war. There is promise 
that we shall be equally amazed at what we may 
accomplish through organized voluntary service 
during the days of peace. 

Consequently, in California it is proposed to 
form in every school or community district, a 
community organization for mutual neighbor- 
hood welfare, mutual neighborhood betterment, 
and mutual neighborhood helpfulness. 

(5) 



In the days before the war America strode 
through History somewhat unmindful of the 
social and economic worries of the world about 
her. But today not only the nation, not only 
every state, but even also every community in 
every state is conscious of the heart-beats, the 
misery and the political chaos that exist in the 
former cradles of civilization. Not a single com- 
munity, no matter how small and no matter how 
far remote, can heiLeafter claim that it is beyond 
the influence of the tremendous present interna- 
tional upheaval. Conversely, it is necessary that 
every community prepare to exercise its influence 
during the period of readjustment. 

Without detracting in the least from the brave 
and glorious work our army and nav}^ performed, 
yet it may still be said that the industrial worker 
in the foothills of the Appalachian, the farmer 
of the plains, the housewife in the Sierras, the 
children of the cities, proved to be the Kaiser's 
deadliest foes. The plow^share and the pruning- 
hook were more potent than the sword. The 
producers of the Allied nations defeated Prussia 
before the cannon of the army and navy could 
beat her into submission. The simple folk be- 
hind one army line made the world untenable for 
the kings l^ehind the other army line. 

If it were only to feel the joy of victory, then 
we might he happy indeed. — But there is the 
war-wreckage, the awful war-wreekace. 



(6) 



And it is this wrei-kage that makes the prob- 
lems of peace even more serious than the problems 
of war. Destruction is always much easier than 
construction. Out of the broken bricks and 
mortar a new world edifice must be l)uilt, not like 
the old one, but an edifice that will meet the 
world's requirements of today. 

And what are those problems? There are the 
millions of war-torn people across the sea: the 
millions unfed, the millions without employment, 
without homes and without immediate hope for 
the future, and millions that suffered and bled, 
the widowed millions, the pareutless millions, the 
childless millions, the millions that have come out 
of the black tunnels of tyranny and autocracy 
into the sudden light of national freedom, dazed 
and stunned and groping about ; the millions who 
have never until now had a chance to express 
their innermost thoughts about matters political, 
social or religious; the millions that have not 
even been permitted to think overmuch and 
whose education has been carefully arranged for 
them, repressed and moulded to suit the whims 
and the selfish desires of autocracy. 

These millions, friend and foe alike, are now 
crj^ng to America for sympathy, for food and 
for general aid. And no matter how selfishly or 
unselfishly we have lived in the past, today more 
than ever we are our brother's keeper. The 
changing times have thrust a responsibility upon 
America that will be felt in every community. 

(7) 



Besides, there is all the other wreckage. The 
millions of tons of ships and food and supplies 
that were sunk into the sea. and the millions and 
millions of tons of shrapnel and guns that per- 
haps can never again be of material use to hu- 
manity. All the iron and metals feverishly 
mined from the earth were poured into Flanders 
and Picardy. But that does not mean new iron 
mines will be found there. It only means that 
Flanders and Picardy are pocked deserts. 

Then, too, are the thousand demolished vil- 
lages; the acres and acres of ruined vineyards 
and orchards, the miles and miles of injured 
canals and highway. 

— But why catalog it all ! 

It is enough to know that it must all be 
replenished and rebuilt, and that the replenish- 
ing and the rebuilding are a greater task than 
the destruction. 

And so also, without likewise cataloging the 
misery of European humanity, the shell-shocked 
brains and the shattered hopes, the wild visions 
of upstart leaders, the social tumult and political 
disorderliness, it is enough if we but understand 
that the work of rehabilitation and of readjust- 
ment of all these things concerns the people of 
California even more fully and even more ur- 
gently than did the task of winning the war. 
This social confusion and this economic disorder 
concerns even more than we now realize the 
uttermost community. 

(?) 



And so again it may be repeated : It is just as 
important to organize to construct as it was to 
organize to destroy. 

Furthermore, over two millions of our men in 
service will soon return from months of unprece- 
dented excitement and adventure. Even though 
without hospital record, many, many of these 
men possess nerves that are gas-shocked or shell- 
shocked. It will not be easy for them to change 
suddenly from an active and thrilling life to the 
quiet, common, everyday existence of peace and 
tranquility. We can not expect otherwise. It 
may take months for many to free themselves 
from the spirit of restlessness and incessant mo- 
tion belonging to army life and to become accus- 
tomed to the change. It is a long way from 
charging a hidden machine gun through wire 
entanglements to following a plow or selling 
shoes. 

And so, in every connnunity we must foster a 
kindly sympathy and a community parental feel- 
ing for these men who have gone through His- 
tory's fiercest furnace. 

But our task does not end there. The world 
is not going to be the same as it was before the 
war. Said Lloyd George of England: 

"The democracies of the world are not 
fighting for the world as it was before 
August, 1914. They are fighting for a new 
world. 

(9) 



''You can not have the world as it was. It 
was a libel on Jesus Christ. It was a shame 
upon His name. This is the land that boasts 
that it is Christian. It was not. To see men 
rotting, women and children rotting, in pov- 
erty, without any sin on their souls except 
that they were the children of the same 
Father, that was a libel on Jesus of Nazereth. 

'^We must not have that again. ^Millions 
of men have not died for a world of that 
kind." 

In some measure those words can apply to 
America. We must adjust ourselves to the new 
order of things in the world. AYe must not only 
readjust ourselves but we must also join with 
our neighbors to help them readjust themselves. 

The war has torn open the very heart of 
autocracy and its traditionary falsehoods. It 
has opened to view the castle-rooms stocked full 
with food and delicacies while the plain folk out- 
side were starving. It has made Prussianism 
and all that it stands for smell most offensively 
in the nostrils of the world. More than ever has 
it made us appreciate the pioneer spirit of 
America, the spirit of the days of Boone and 
Clark, the spirit of the days of Forty-nine, — the 
simple, plain, unaffected, unselfish spirit of 
straightforward intercourse and straightforward 
living. 

For a time we were inclined to stray away 
from that spirit. We were inclined to let it be 



(10) 



laid aside during- the great bustle of a century of 
development. It is for us now to resurrect that 
spirit and reintroduce it into everyday living. 
AVe must return, each to his own community, to 
put it into practical use. 

In California it is proposed to resurrect and 
preserve this inheritance by organizing perma- 
nently in every school district a nonpartisan, non- 
sectarian neighborhood democracy. We shall 
modernize the old town meeting idea and apply 
it to every community. The door will be open 
to every man, every woman and every child. 
The rich man on the hill will once more discuss 
community welfare with the poor man in the val- 
ley — as men created equal and desiring mutually, 
and in the same neighborhood, to enjo}^ together 
the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuits of 
happiness. 

In this manner we hope to mobilize the good 
things coming out of the war, — especially the 
spirit of Service and the spirit of Sacrifice — for 
the general betterment and social advancement 
not only of every community but also of the 
world at large. 

We must soon demobilize the war workers but 
we must never demobilize the Spirit of Service. 
''Goodwill toward men" must not be relegated 
to a mere phrase. 



ai) 



What is America ? It is the community multi- 
plied. We can therefore best glorify the nation 
by glorifying our own home community. The 
great commonwealth can never be any more demo- 
cratic than is the community. 

— And the responsibility for the measure of 
democracy in the community invariably lies with 
the individual citizen. 

Therefore, you local leaders, you leaders of 
community thought, you men and women who 
read and think, this appeal must be to you. 

It is for you to understand the things that are 
coming out of the war. 

It is for you to catch the new vision. You who 
have been perhaps more fortunate, you who have 
had more opportunity, you who have been blessed 
with the power more easily to understand — the 
greater responsibility is yours. 

— You can not close the Book of War and say 
3^our duty is done. 

— You can not close the Book of Service and 
say the work is finished. 

— You can not close the Book of Sacrifice and 
say henceforth you shall be the taker and not the 
giver. 

Though the fighting be ended the complicated 
matters of the world are still unraveled. There 
are murmurs of social discontent that threaten to 

(12) 



disturb the foundation of society. You can not 
shrug your shoulder and pass on disinterestedly. 
There are misunderstandings between men of 
business and men of labor. In fact there is a 
din and clamor all about the earth that sounds 
like ominous prophecy of unhappy possibilities. 

You can not go back yet to your farm or your 
office or 3^our books or your club or your kitchen 
and carelessly toss off your responsibility. 

Yesterday your country called you. But today 
your Community calls you. The fact that the 
war is over does not make it less compelling. 

"What shall you do ? There are no paved high- 
ways ahead. It is for you to help lead your com- 
munity-host through the social and economic wil- 
derness, going carefully, choosing wisely, — and 
looking always for the promised land. 

— The promised land of a more perfect demoe- 
rac3^ 

— The promised land of greater commercial and 
industrial development. • 

—The promised land of better social life in the 
city, better housing conditions, a land where earn- 
ing a mere living will be less serious and less 
melancholy. 

— The promised land where the children of the 
poor may all have an opportunity early to acquire 
the little courtesies and polished manners as well 
as the other refinements of taste and culture. 



(13) 



— The promised land where mothers and house- 
wives may have some respite from drudgery, some 
opportunity to keep in touch with the big world 
outside. 

— ^The promised land where farming will be 
made mere enjoyable, more scientific and pajdng 
better, 

— The promised land where the advantages 
offered by the various departments of the State 
and Nation will be brought to the doorstep of 
every family-. 

— The promised land of greater and more last- 
ing prosperity, not alone in the aceunmlation of 
material wealth, but also in the accumulation of 
knowledge, art, science and all the other good 
and beautiful things of life. 

— The promised land where every schoolhouse 
will be a social center, a public forum, a com- 
munity clubhouse of democracy, where the 
Spirit of Service will be weekly mobilized for 
the ''everlasting teamwork of e\'ery bloomiiiLr 
soul." 



(14) 



J^reiiiier Llo^'d George says : 

'*We must have reconstruction when we hav(> 
the k^ssons of the war fresh in our minds. We 
must reconstruct when the national limbs are 
supple with endeavor and l^efore they become 
stilf with repose and slumber, and you must 
reconstruct when you see you have behind you 
the great spirit of patriotism and sacrifice which 
has been raised from the depths of human nature 
in every house and every breast in this land. 
You must reconstruct when you have got behind 
you the momentum of victory to carry you 
through to an even greater triumph. That is 
why the whole field of national enterprise, of 
national endeavor and national resource and of 
material well-being is being examined carefully 
with a view to immediate action before that great 
spirit grows cold in the frigid atmosphere of 
self-interest. Let us have it when the nation is 
riding the chariot of a high purpose ere it comes 
down to the dusty road. That is the time to 
reconstruct, that is the time to build ; when there 
is fraternity throughout the land.'' 



(15) 



LlBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




'Teace does not mean that we 
can fold our hands. ^It means further 
sacrifice. ^We must prove conclu- 
sively to an attentive world that 
America is permanently aroused to 
the needs of the new era/^ 

—PRESIDENT WILSON 
en route to France December 8, 1 9 18. 



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